by Kevin T McEneaney
In memory of Nikolai Vavilov
During the dreadful siege of Leningrad,
scientists willingly starved themselves to death
rather than eat edible tuber seeds
stored in the Solanum near Petersburg
because this collection belonged to all
children of the earth around the whole globe.
This genetic collection with over
a thousand strains of sundry strawberries,
over hundred strains of gooseberries,
cherries, cranberries, fruits, and raspberries
at Pavlovsk Station was nearly killed
by land developers for private homes.
Humanity: a breed concurrently
heroic, as it is foolish silly.
